We are a nation of voyeurs. Ingrained in us is a deep-seeded obsession with celebrity, the hero and the underdog. We love to watch individuals rise. We love to taste their fall even more. And so is born the genre of sport-dramas.
“Moneyball” starring Brad Pitt, Jonah Hill and Philip Seymour Hoffman opened last weekend. We’ve given it a week in theaters. And? What have the People to say?
As a filmmaker, if you’ve got a subject that’s been done a hundred times over (as with most sport-dramas), you’ve got a challenge on your hands. If you take that on, you better deliver. There are some films, however, that have hit it spot on. In order to illustrate, we offer a comparison of three films: “He Got Game,” “Moneyball,” and “The Damned United.”
1998 delivered Spike Lee’s “He Got Game” starring Denzel Washington and NBA’s Ray Allen. The film delivered a candid, insightful glimpse into the world of college and professional sports. The story revolves around the rise of a young basketball prodigy (Allen). “What will he do? What will he choose? College or the NBA?” Okay, we’ve done this plot before. What warrants the film’s mention is its artful treatment of the protagonist’s worldview. The script is gritty, unromantic and honest. We don’t want to see what someone is like when the world is looking; we want to see who they are when they’re alone. The acting is authentic and visceral. The cinematography and music are characters in themselves, and actually engage the action. So… votes in… the film gets an A.
About ten years later, the U.K. produced “The Damned United.” Not since Philip Seymour Hoffman’s portrayal of Truman Capote in 2005’s “Capote” have we seen an actor do such justice to a character. “United” tells the real-life story of Brian Clough (played by Michael Sheen) who took over the managing U.K. football (“soccer”) team “Leeds United” in 1974 and failed miserably for forty-four days. If you dig biographies or “soccer,” the film is enlightening. If you don’t, the film’s stellar acting (especially by Sheen) is enough to warrant a viewing. Sheen channels Clough’s personality down to voice intonation, subtle mannerisms and even the way he inhabits his body. The film is not about sport; it’s about the choices we make and the color of their fall out. “United” gets an A from us because its acting set a new bar for actors.
Finally, to “Moneyball.” Brad Pitt stars as the Oakland A’s general manager Billy Beane whose innovative management changed the way baseball was played. Beane was able to put together a successful team by relying on computer-generated analysis to draft players. Okay, interesting idea. However, we must remember it IS a film. “You’ve got us for two hours, no more no less, so what’cha got?” Unfortunately, the film’s only unique element is its plot, and even that gets old. The underdog team pulls itself up from the bootstraps, defies expectations and then… of course… fails. It fails because if it didn’t, audiences would have asked for their money back. We needed SOME realism, or tomato-throwing would have been warranted. Our problem with the film came down to its lack of character development. The progression of scenes was too predictable and fast to allow the film to deliver a unique voice. “You’ve got us for two hours, remember? What do you have to say?” In the end, “Moneyball” didn’t say anything we haven’t already heard.
And so concludes our lesson on what makes a film worth its price of admission. It must deliver something that resonates with us, and it must do it in an innovative way. The band plays on. The genre of sport-dramas will not die, nor will our need for underdogs or a hero’s rise and fall. Films will always come along that reinvigorate a seemingly worn out genre.
Words by Ariel Maccarone
